Foreign Relations: Two Cheers for Diplomacy

On the campaign trail last fall,
Jack Kennedy pledged that U.S. embassies would no longer be political
plums for heavy campaign contributors, would be staffed solely "on
the basis of ability." But last week, as reports of the Administration's favorites
for diplomatic posts filtered through Washington,
many of Kennedy's staunchest admirers wondered aloud where reward
stopped and ability began. "Almost everybody has given three
cheers for President Kennedy's top domestic appointees," wrote the
New York Times's James B. Reston, a Kennedy admirer, "but two
cheers is all he is likely to get...